On This Day In 1953 – Queen Elizabeth Takes Coronation Oath

Queen Elizabeth II has been crowned at a coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London. In front of more than 8,000 guests, including prime ministers and heads of state from around the Commonwealth, she took the Coronation Oath and is now bound to serve her people and to maintain the laws of God. After being [...]

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Edward Johnston’s Typeface For The London Underground Railway – Designed 1916

Johnston (or Johnston Sans) is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by and named after Edward Johnston. It is well known for its use by Transport for London. Johnston’s former student Eric Gill also worked on the development of the typeface, which was later to influence his own Gill Sans typeface, produced 1928–32. Features Features of [...]

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Holiday Cine Film Butlins Bognor Regis 1961

To regular visitors to this blog my slight obsession with the British seaside holidays in the last century is no secret, so here’s a amateur movie from Buntlins Bognor Regis from 1961. It used to be a standard joke that other people’s home movies and colour slides were BORING BORING BORING. Here’s a film that [...]

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1959 Opperman Unicar Model T

Opperman, a tractor manufacturer in England saw the success of the Bond Minicar and decided to build a new Microcar for the British market. The first model from Opperman was the Model "T" Unicar. It looked like a larger sedan in miniature and was the cheapest car shown at the 1956 London Motor Show.There was [...]

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Seeing London Part 1

Tour of London and environs in the 1920′s by Burton Holmes. London, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall, Houses of Parliament, Thames River, street urchins, St Stephens tower, Big Ben, Cleopatra’s Needle, Sphinx, Somerset House, St Pauls Cathedral, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, horse guard, parade, we want 5000 sign, war offices, Downing Street. Footage from this film is available [...]

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I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

Everyone delights to spend their summer’s holiday Down beside the side of the silvery sea I’m no exception to the rule In fact, if I’d my way I’d reside by the side of the silvery sea. But when you’re just the common or garden Smith or Jones or Brown At bus’ness up in town You’ve [...]

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The Bond Scooters

By the late 1950s Sharps commercials decided to enter the two-wheeled market with their "All-British" offering, announced in early 1958. Intended to compete with the increase in foreign imported machines, the company invested heavily in the project. The initial model was the P1, illustrated left, which was powered by a 148 cc Villiers Mk 31C [...]

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On This Day In 1950 – UK Drivers Cheer End Of Fuel Rations

Long queues have appeared at garages this evening and motorists have torn their ration books into confetti after the government announced an end to petrol rationing. The Minister of Fuel and Power, Philip Noel-Baker, told the House of Commons rationing would be abolished because two American companies had agreed a deal to supply oil in [...]

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Harwich

For nearly 10 years during the mid to late seventies and early eighties I spent my summer holidays traveling around the British Isles, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. Nearly every time the trip started by going by car from Oslo to Gothenburg, then with the ferry over to Harwich – Ted Image found at “Adventures [...]

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Samantha Eggar – British Actress

Samantha Eggar (born 5 March 1939) is an English film, television and voice actress. She was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in Hampstead, London to an Anglo-Irish father (Ralph, a major in the British Army) and a mother (Muriel) of Dutch descent. She was raised Roman Catholic and educated at St Mary’s [...]

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Margaret Leighton – English Actress

Margaret Leighton (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English actress. She had an exquisite sense of grandeur and refinement. She created the role of Hannah Jelkes in Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana. Born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, Leighton made her stage debut as Dorothy in Laugh With Me (1938), which [...]

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Keep Calm – And Play Golf

    It takes more than a world war to stop an Englishman from enjoying a game of golf – Ted Image found at “Formicarius”

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Bettina Le Beau – Belgian-British Actress And Writer

Bettina Le Beau (born 23 March 1932 in Antwerp, Belgium), also known as Bettine Le Beau, is an actress known for her film, radio and television appearances in the UK. During World War II she was separated from her parents; as she was Jewish, she was held in a concentration camp in southern France. She [...]

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World’s Smallest Solar Movie Theatre

Why It’s Unique: Sol Cinema is the world’s first mini mobile movie theatre powered entirely by the sun. It only accommodates 8 adults but patrons are greeted by a smiling usherette who guides them into Sol Cinema on a red carpet. The mobility of Sol Cinema allows it to travel around the UK showing movies [...]

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Imogen Hassall – English Actress

Imogen Hassall (25 August 1942 – 16 November 1980) was an English actress who appeared in 33 films during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Named after Shakespeare’s Cymbeline heroine, she was born in Woking, Surrey, to a family of artists and business people. Her grandfather, John Hassall, and her aunt, Joan Hassall, worked as [...]

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The Beatles This Week

April 23, 1964 – John Lennon was the guest of honor at a Foyle’s Literary Lunch in the Dorchester Hotel, London. April 24, 1964 – The last movie scenes for “A Hard Day’s Night” were filmed in West Ealing. April 25, 1964 – Peter and Gordon’s “World Without Love,” a composition by Paul McCartney and [...]

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Novel Camping Trailer Opens Into Comfortable Quarters

A novel camping trailer has been produced in London which is hailed with delight by lovers of the outdoors because of the comfort it provides. The trailer, compact when closed, is attached to the rear of the automobile by a device which makes it ride easily with a minimum of side sway. But when camp [...]

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The Velocette Viceroy

In 1960, Velocette introduced the Viceroy, a very unusual 250 cc opposed twin two-stroke scooter. Unique to the Viceroy was the front mounted twin-cylinder engine, and the fuel tank mounted under the front legshield. The engine itself was extremely compact, and connected to the rear-mounted clutch and transmission by a drive shaft from the engine-mounted [...]

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On This Day In 1969 – Devlin Is Youngest-Ever Woman MP

A 21-year-old woman, Bernadette Devlin, has become Britain’s youngest ever female MP and the third youngest MP ever. Standing as an independent Unity candidate, Miss Devlin wrested the seat of Mid-Ulster in Northern Ireland from the Ulster Unionists. In a straight fight she defeated Anna Forrest, the widow of the late MP George Forrest, by [...]

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The Beatles This Week

April 16, 1964 – “A Hard Day’s Night” was recorded in three hours at Abbey Road. April 17, 1964 – The press announced that the movie The Beatles were working on was officially given the name “A Hard Day’s Night.” April 19, 1967 – The Beatles and Co., a legal business partnership, was formed to [...]

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